Well first off.... CONGRATULATIONS on your greenhouse! Woohoo!
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What zone am I in? I went to a gardening site and it said that I was in 8a, but it was a flower garden site, does it matter?
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The zone is the same for all plant growing - so zone 8a it is. I am in the same zone but in an entirely different place in the US - maritime pacific northwest.
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When planting potatoes, do you put them in the ground? I've heard that people plant them in containers.
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You can grow potatoes in the ground or in containers. I generally plant the vast majority of my potatoe crop in the ground - but plan to do one large container in potatoes this year - just for grins. When you plant potatoes in the ground, you place the seed piece in a small hole about 4 inches down in the soil and about 12 to 18 inches apart from each other. Once the seedling emerges... you should continue to hill up soil or compost mulch - not entirely covering the leaves but covering the stem area. You keep doing this for a while - or add straw mulch in the same fashion until you are a very tall plant that has a lot of "stem" under the soil/mulch. The potatoes grow between the seed piece and the surface of the soil... so the longer/deeper that is the more potatoes you will harvest. Same concept for containers - just different "bed" environment.
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Is it possible to have a year round garden in my zone?
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Yes. You have a particularly good zone for four season harvesting. I would encourage you to get the book "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. It's an excellent read and you will get alot from it. Should be available at your local library.
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Is it better to plant herbs in containers or in your garden?
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It really does not matter. I prefer to put herbs in pots - so that I may move them into the greenhouse during the winter months and then put them back out on the sunny deck area during the spring/summer/fall months.
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Do you put all your plants in the garden at the same time?
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Absolutely not. I do four season harvesting... so plants are going in and being harvested based on the preferences of the plant and based on my rotation process. At a minimum (even if you do the traditional strictly summer vegetable garden)... there are certain plants that need an early start or they will rush to seed (spinach for example) and others that must wait until the soil has REALLY warmed up to thrive... such as peppers.
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When do you usually start prepping (tilling and such) for your garden?
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I used raised boxed beds that do not require tilling year after year... just an initial double dig and then an annual aeration thereafter with a broadfork. Back in the days when I used a tiller and did flat space gardening... I tilled when the soil told me it was time... which is when you can scoop up a handful and squeeze it in your hand... and have it hold the shape when you release the squeeze.... but it must fall apart when you then poke it with a finger... so "moist but crumbly".
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Do you recommend removing the top layer of grass before tilling?
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Yes. You can also just do many many passes with the tiller... but some grasses spread by rhizome and you may have bits of them mixed in that will come up again and again over the next many years. I prefer to cut the sod and just strip it off of a new garden bed area before working the soil.
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Hopefully with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of help (hint hint) I will have a beautiful garden.
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Wishing you success. I would encourage you to do just a little reading while you are waiting out the last of the winter months... the book I referenced earlier is good and so is Dick Raymond's "Joy of Gardening" (one of my favorite general gardening books). Many others out there too - so use your library card and do some pleasurable reading.
I'll get it right this year. 
